


Dance Class

by AntagonizedPenguin



Category: Here and Then, Original Work
Genre: Gen, In the aftermath of a disaster, Just a boy missing his friend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-08-05
Packaged: 2020-07-31 16:44:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20118304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AntagonizedPenguin/pseuds/AntagonizedPenguin
Summary: "Davie liked ballet class, because it was where he got to see Charlie."A piece of fanfiction based on Monetarilydizzy'sHere and Thenseries, featuring a main character's best friend who really knows that he's a main character's best friend.





	Dance Class

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Monetarily Dizzy (SandOfTheMountain)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SandOfTheMountain/gifts).

> I'm quite nervous about this one, because I tried to emulate the writing style in which Monetarilydizzy writes Here and Then and I'm not sure I succeeded. But I really like Davie, who is a stabilizing force in the crazy lives of a lot of people and who I feel deserves appreciation for that! Thursday was also Here and Then's second anniversary, so consider this a gift for that occasion!

Davie really liked his ballet class. He liked learning to move, learning to do something new. He wasn’t amazing at it but it wasn’t like being bad in school, he was getting better and even if he still kind of sucked compared to some of the other students in the class, he could see the improvement in himself from when he’s started and that was super cool. 

Ballet class was also where he’d met Charlie, who was now, after a very rough first meeting after which Davie had gone home and hidden his head under a pillow out of sheer embarrassment, his best friend by a country mile—whatever that was, and whyever a mile in the country was different than a mile in a normal place. 

Davie’s friendship with Charlie was mostly done electronically, they texted and video chatted and that was great because they lived in the modern world where friendships could easily be had with people who one only saw one in a while in person if at all—but at the same time, Davie really liked ballet class because it was the only time when he normally got to see Charlie in the flesh. Or at least it was the only time he got to see Charlie in the flesh without one of their parents there being overbearing. 

Neither Davie’s mom nor Zenthella was particularly overbearing, but when Davie was a teenager (which was all the time) trying to be friends with his friend, any acknowledgement that someone’s parent existed seemed overbearing to him. 

So Davie liked ballet class, because it was where he got to see Charlie. At least it had been until the Humanities Gala, which had been a super fun, glammy party with lots of boring people Davie didn’t care about and also Charlie, and mom and Zenthella had met, and it had all be super fun. And then someone had come in and tried to kill everyone and they’d all run away screaming and Charlie had been on the news and hadn’t left their house since then. At least Davie knew they were leaving their bedroom now, and eating, which was something. 

Hopefully someday they’d be okay enough to leave the house. Davie would never pressure them to do that before they were ready—they’d talked a lot and he knew how Charlie was feeling—but he selfishly felt lonely without his best friend, even if he did have a lot of other friends.

Davie was a few minutes late to practice, and got a scolding in the form of a severe look—okay, it was more exasperated than severe, Davie just liked to feel like a maligned rebel—from Miss C before quickly going to start his stretches so he could join the class. Without Charlie it felt so small, which Davie supposed was because it was. But having his friend there made it feel so much bigger. 

He was halfway through some stretch or another—he knew the movements, but not the names of them all, or any of them—when he felt more anything the world balance itself a little, and he looked up. Charlie had walked into the studio, looking tired. “Hey!” Davie stood up—too fast, ow—and ran over to them, stopping a few feet in front of Charlie. “Hey!” he said again. 

“Hey,” Charlie said back, giving an attempt at a smile. It looked hollow, more than their smiles over video chat had been, and even those had the cadence of masks. “I came to make sure you weren’t slacking off.” 

“Never!” 

“Liar, I saw you just now. That was a weak effort.” 

Davie grinned, not even ashamed.

Miss C cleared her throat at them, sweeping into the conversation. A hush had fallen over the studio. “Charlie, I’m glad to see you again.” 

“Thanks,” Charlie said, quieter than when they’d talked to Davie. “Sorry I’ve been absent.” 

“Not to worry.” It was hanging in the air. The Gala had been on the news. Charlie had been on the news. It had happened to Davie too, but to a much lesser extent because he hadn’t been the one on television doing magic everywhere. It must be so awkward for Charlie. No wonder they hadn’t come out. But before Davie could intervene, Miss C said, “but we’re glad you’re back. Get warmed up.” 

“Sure,” Charlie said, nodding. And that was that. 

Or not really. The immediate tension was broken, but practice was still quiet, or subdued, to use Davie’s word of the day from last Friday. There was never all that much talking, but today it seemed like less than usual. Still, it was too bad when it was over, because that was the end of it. 

Charlie walked outside with Davie. “Sorry I’ve been such a space cadet,” they said, shielding their eyes against the sun’s intrusion. 

Davie shook his head. “No, it’s okay! I understand.” He felt like he’d said that a lot, and he knew it was a lie. He didn’t understand what Charlie was going through, he couldn’t. He didn’t know what it was like to have to do all that, to have to kill someone. And that was before all the fallout that he knew Charlie and Zenthella were dealing with with the Sandoute family and the Coventium and everything else. Davie didn’t understand at all, but he was trying to be supportive. 

It was all he could do.

Charlie nodded, though. “I know. You’ve…been a big help, Davie. You’re easier to talk to than Zen and everyone else. Sorry,” they said suddenly. “I feel like I’m…using you or something. For emotional support.” 

“No, it’s okay!” Davie said, then thinking he shouldn’t have said that and instead said that Charlie wasn’t doing that. Too late. “You’re going through a lot. And…I want to help. I know I can’t really, but I want to. So…if leaning on me helps you then keep doing that, okay? It’s cool.” 

“Okay.” Charlie was smiling at the concrete of the sidewalk, and it seemed just slightly fuller. Just slightly. David took that as a compliment. “Thanks, Davie. You’re a good friend.” 

“I know, I’m the best,” Davie agreed with a grin. And that got a small laugh out of Charlie, so another win. 

“Oh,” Charlie said, looking up. Zenthella’s friend Figaro—not her friend, her familiar, Davie remembered—was standing there at the corner. He was the one who’d teleported Davie and his mom, and everyone else, out of the hell of the Gala and to somewhere safe. Davie smiled at him. 

“Hey,” Figaro said. “How was class?”

Charlie nodded, moving a little closer to Figaro. “It was good. I’m…glad I went.” That was with a smile at Davie. 

“Me too. But we should get home.” 

“Yeah. I have to go, Davie, see you.” 

It was Davie’s turn to nod, and he waved lamely, stepping back a bit. He’d been teleported once and he hadn’t liked that very much. But he wasn’t naïve enough to think that Figaro was about to lead Charlie to a car. “See you. Soon, if you’re up for it.” 

“I’ll text you tonight.” Charlie was quiet for a second, and Figaro seemed to know they were thinking of saying something else. “Thank you, Davie.” 

And that was that. Figaro nodded and the two of them disappeared from the street, leaving Davie by himself. 

He was most of the way to the bus stop before he realized how much more complete his day felt than the last several had. It felt, almost, like with enough time and patience, there was a chance that things could return to something like normal. 

Or maybe Davie was just hoping that really hard, because he wanted his friend back.


End file.
